How do I copy mybackups to DVD's

A month ago I backed up (full backup) my entire C: drive to D: drive for safe keeping. Both partitions live on the same HD and are nearly the same size about 24 GB. I chose high compression for the backup and chose to break it into DVD sized pieces. I now have one large file called mybackup1 about 4.5 GB and a much smaller one called mybackup2 about 800MB stoed on my D: drive they are are not in a older just stored in the D drive root directory. I'm away from my PC so the details may be sketchy.

My question is regarding copying these files to DVD's for extra security. Can I just copy and past in explorer or is this copy job suppose to be done from within TI software?

Another question, I thought I read that the full back up and later incremental backups were suppose to be all stored in the same folder? I'm my case they are just sitting in the root directory, is that a problem down the line?

A month ago I backed up (full backup) my entire C: drive to D: drive for safe keeping. Both partitions live on the same HD and are nearly the same size about 24 GB. I chose high compression for the backup and chose to break it into DVD sized pieces. I now have one large file called mybackup1 about 4.5 GB and a much smaller one called mybackup2 about 800MB stoed on my D: drive they are are not in a older just stored in the D drive root directory. I'm away from my PC so the details may be sketchy.

My question is regarding copying these files to DVD's for extra security. Can I just copy and past in explorer or is this copy job suppose to be done from within TI software?

Another question, I thought I read that the full back up and later incremental backups were suppose to be all stored in the same folder? I'm my case they are just sitting in the root directory, is that a problem down the line?

thanks

Click to expand...

Just burn the files to DVD using Nero or other burning software. The files are fine in the root directory. I put mine in a folder call Backup Images.

Along with copying the tib backup files to the DVD, I also create and copy to the DVD a file containing the md5sums of each of the tib files, so I can verify at a later date that the backup files has not been corrupted.

For my offsite DVD backups, I make sure that one of the DVD disks contains a copy of the iso image for the stand-alone version of TI used to create the backup, so I am sure I will have the correct version of TI to restore the backup, in case of a total lost of my system.

ee1, are you refering to the TI emergency boot disc? I remember creating an emergency boot disc first thing after I got the program but can't really remember as I just stored it away. I'll also look into the other things you mentioned as well.

One more question, probably a dumb one but I ask becasue I'm trying to troubleshoot an error that popped up when I tried to do an incremental back up last week. I've since deleted the very first full back up and re-installed the TI software in an effert to fix the problem and start fresh.

Question: Is there any harm done by aggresively defraging the C drive and cleaning out old registy and install files. I like to keep a clean fast C: drive and I routinely run defrag, registry and crap cleaning utilities on my C drive. This shouldn't affect TI's ability to do an incremental backup would it?

It would be better to create a new full image after a housekeeping session. Defragging in particular, with all that fragments swapping, will lead to a subsequent incremental image almost the same size as a full one. If you do the disk cleaning often, you may as well stick to full images only. You will loose nothing in terms of space and you will benefit in terms of ease of management of the image files.

Consider performing an additional backup before you did the aggressive cleanup. If things do not function after the cleanup, you have something to fall back upon. I don't think you can have too many backups

Can I just copy and past in explorer or is this copy job suppose to be done from within TI software?

Click to expand...

Please note that staring with the build 3625 Acronis True Image 9.0 Home can write the image to DVD disc directly without any additional software. However, if it is suitable for you you can create image archives on a local or networked hard drive specifying the image archive split size and burn them to DVDs later. When you create images to DVDs not storing them to hard disk first the image will be split into 2 Gb parts. Please have a look at this post for details.

Another question, I thought I read that the full back up and later incremental backups were suppose to be all stored in the same folder? I'm my case they are just sitting in the root directory, is that a problem down the line?

Click to expand...

Yes, you are right. To restore data from the incremental backup, you must have all previous incremental backup files and the initial full backup stored in the same folder. If any of successive backups is missing, restoration is impossible.

If the archive is located on removable media, e.g. CD/DVD discs, first insert the last CD/DVD and then insert disks in reverse order when Restore Data Wizard prompts.

Is there any harm done by aggresively defraging the C drive and cleaning out old registy and install files. I like to keep a clean fast C: drive and I routinely run defrag, registry and crap cleaning utilities on my C drive. This shouldn't affect TI's ability to do an incremental backup would it?

Click to expand...

As it was already mentioned before the incremental or differential backup created after a disk is defragmented might be considerably larger than usual. This is because the defragmentation program changes file locations on disk and the backups reflect these changes. Therefore, it is recommended that you re-create a full backup after disk defragmentation.

I remember creating an emergency boot disc first thing after I got the program but can't really remember as I just stored it away.

Click to expand...

We recommend you to create a new Acronis True Image Bootable Rescue Media with the latest build, because each new build brings such improvements as better hardware support etc. To get access to updates you should first register your software. Additional information on creating bootable media can be found in the Chapter 10 of Acronis True Image User Guide.